More blacks in jail than there were slaves

DNC said:
President Obama will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.

President Obama will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.

President Obama believes the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

President Obama will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.
Click to expand...

And then he's going to turn water into wine, raise the dead, make the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the mute speak.

When are you going to nail him to a cross, so that you can build a real religion around him??
 
Epicurus said:
Just for everyone's information, the narcotics units of police departments do have a great deal of discretion to simply "pick and choose" their targets as far as drug dealers are concerned. Because of their intelligence gathering, they are aware of many more dealers than they arrest. Typically those who might flip, or those who are the most dangerous are arrested, but it's doubtless that racism plays into this as well, particularly in the Deep South.
Click to expand...

I know this and have always fought against the unfair jailing of any youth for drug possession or incarceration for selling drugs. It has been proven by various studies that jail is ineffective and often times detrimental to youth.

Black men are incarcerated at 9.6% higher rate than are whites. Study after study has shown that young black men are profiled and arrested, convicted and JAILED at a greater rate than any other group in the USA, in the world. We have the highest number of people in prison, we have surpassed Russia! We're #1, we're #1, had to throw that in, there are those people who wish the USA to be #1, and we are in this category! Something to be reeeeallll proud of! Hoohah!

This "war" on drugs is so twisted and so unfair and so costly, it just needs to go away. The majority of drug related deaths in Anchorage have been from children killed by medication that they have gotten from their parents medicine cabinets, developed an addiction which resulted in their overdoses.
Our focus is so wrong.

1995 was the highest year of persons in prison for drug offenses, 60%!

Federal dollars to incarcerate these offenders, $3 billion (2001)

723,627 persons for marijuana violations in 2001, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report. (NORML)

"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said Keith Stroup, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "In fact, the war on drugs is largely a war on pot smokers. This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that should be dedicated toward combating serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

The total number of marijuana arrests far exceeds the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
 
Topspin said:
From leaps website
New slavery
13 percent of drug users are black and make up about 80 percent of drug prisoners. Institutional racism.
Click to expand...

While I agree there is institutional racism to a degree... the above is not a good stat....

Because you say blacks are 13% of drug USERS and 80% of drug prisoners. Many drug PRISONERS are pushers/dealers/runners etc...

That said, the number is still disproportionate.
 
Adam Weinberg said:
You can't just criticize the court system, though there is plenty of blame there. But certainly discrimination is in practice with sentencing.

That's only part of the issue, though. Someone has to get them into court first. Where and how the enforcement takes place is very significant to how more black people end up in custody for crimes that are predominantly committed by white people.

In some ways, it's the same B.S. reason why if you or I tried to rob a bank, we'd get shot, but if Bernie Madoff steals billions they let him relax in one of his several homes while they carefully gather their evidence for a mostly inconsequential trial and sentencing process. It's an inequality in the priority for the law enforcement and justice system, and additionally, for the people who are writing the laws. What kind of message is it to the white suburban vote to say "We'll win the war on drugs by putting your college-aged kids in prison!" (Or just replace that with "Each of the last several Presidents" or "Michael Phelps" or "Rush Limbaugh".)

Much easier to make the issue about "dangerous people" who they don't know and by whose lives they aren't (seemingly) remotely touched.
Click to expand...

Side bar: The reason they are keeping Madoff under house arrest instead of tossing him in prison right now is that they want to keep him alive long enough to find as many of the assets as they can. Turns out old Bernie had some of the Russian Mafia's money invested in his scheme. If that is indeed true... he would not last long in prison.
 
Superfreak said:
While I agree there is institutional racism to a degree... the above is not a good stat....

Because you say blacks are 13% of drug USERS and 80% of drug prisoners. Many drug PRISONERS are pushers/dealers/runners etc...

That said, the number is still disproportionate.
Click to expand...

I thought that 80% of those incarcerated for drugs were for possession only and not dealing.
 
froggie said:
I thought that 80% of those incarcerated for drugs were for possession only and not dealing.
Click to expand...

that could be true... I do not know the exact stats. But toppy was comparing percent of drug users to percent of drug prisoners. I was simply pointing out the difference. Like I said, their is an institutional bias.

Whether it is due to the lower income having worse attorneys, police focusing more on inner cities, harsher penalties in court or some combination... I dont know. But I do agree the end result shows a bias.

Personally, I beleive they should legalize drugs, tax the hell out of them and make the penalty for breaking the law or causing injury/death while under the influence harsh. Once that law is corrected, release all non-violent drug offenders.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top